Everyone's least favorite subject ... wet-pulled handles. Just mentioning them generates groans. I try to teach many approaches to handle making, but the wet-pulled handle cannot be avoided. It's really important, because it teaches you how to gracefully handle wet clay. This translates into good craft skills in all areas of pottery. I had my Level 4 students make wet-pulled handles for a teapot. We pulled the handles and set them across to cylinder to form a nice curve, then let them dry for about an hour while we worked on trimming and attaching a spout: (photo by Jenny Adams)
When it comes to attaching a wet-pulled handle, I only have rule: DO NOT TOUCH THE OUTSIDE OF THE HANDLE. You can touch the ends of the handle, which will either become attachment points, or cut off as excess. You can touch the inside of the handle. But keep your paws off the outside. Those beautiful, liquidy, gravity-fed lines ... don't spoil them with your fingerprints. From left to right ... Jonathan Gordy, Kara Duffy, me, Melanie Choe, Margaret Lukomska, Jenny Adams, Judy Goldberg-Strassler, Andrea Schewe, and Jeri Holloway.
 We all noticed the hedgehog at the wood kiln, before it went into the kiln. And when it emerged from the kiln, we knew it was something special. It has a little bit of black iron oxide on its nose, but otherwise all of its tones and shine were bestowed by the kiln. Last weekend at the Festival of Lights, we jokingly fought over it, trying to outbid each other for the right to buy it. Its maker, Karen Riedlinger, wasn't sure how to price it. It's such a little guy, after all. After some discussion, we chose a price that was higher than Karen was really comfortable with, but she agreed to try it and see what would happen. We placed it on a riser facing the entrance of the show, so it could act as our greeter.
When the show opened, we watched as people came into the room, made a beeline for the hedgehog, picked it up, and admired it. About a half-hour later, somebody bought it. "We should have charged more!" I said. But I was kidding, it had already fetched a very handsome price. And thus a legend was born. The cherished little hedgehog was given an important job, which it performed brilliantly for a very short period of time, and then it was gone.
btw, the booth looks spectacular, doesn't it? The quality gets better every year. When I gush about how talented my students are, I am not kidding!
"Level 5 Pottery" is the new name that was given to my most advanced class at the Greenbelt Community Center. This weekend, the Center is hosting its annual Festival of Lights, where my students and I will have a large booth. Here's a preview of our work:  My large serving platter with painted bamboo design.  Karen Arrington's large oval platter with leaves.  Amy Castner's blue teapot with wire handle.  Janet Evander's wood-fired mugs and ornament.  Karen Morgenstern's faceted tea bowl, wood-fired.  Karen Riedlinger's "onion and garlic" salt and pepper shakers.  Vejune Svotelis's wood-fired jar with three-finger lid.  Kuniko Wallis's teapots, wood-fired.  Carol Wisdom's canister with slip-carved design. I know you're impressed, because they impress me every week! And we'll have many more sure-to-knock-your-socks-off wares, in every price range. And if you're interested in taking the best pottery classes in the DC metro area, this weekend is a good chance to tour our studios/classrooms, and meet the instructors (most of whom are also in the Festival). Greenbelt's Festival of LightsGreenbelt Community Center 15 Crescent Road, Greenbelt MD 20770 Saturday, December 1, 10am - 5pm Sunday, December 2, 11am - 4pm
One of the projects I recently gave to my Level 4 students was a serving bowl with a "one-curve" basin, a tall footring, and a flared and carved rim. That's a pretty complex assignment, but as usual, they attacked it and they crushed it! A week or so later, I came across all of these bowls in a tidy stack in the kiln room. My bowl was at the bottom of the stack, so I just decided to carry them all over to the classroom. What a pretty sight!  photo by Quianna Douglas
From left to right ... Jim Dugan from Baltimore Clayworks, Judy Goldberg-Strassler, Karen Riedlinger, me, Janet Evander, Karen Morgenstern, Alan Dowdy, Melanie Choe, Jonathan Gordy, Carol Wisdom, Amy Castner, Vejune Svotelis, Karen Arrington. Missing from the photo are Tom Baker, Quianna Douglas, and Kuniko Wallis. Wood-firing has become an October tradition for the potters from the Greenbelt Community Center. It's the perfect time of year to schedule our workshop at Baltimore Clayworks. The cooler weather makes us want to build a massive fire! Here are some photos from the event, which are generally sorted in chronological order. Click on the thumbnails for larger images and captions.
Oh, and then there were the pots! Here are just a few. There were many, many more that were just as gorgeous as these. Click on the thumbnails for larger images and names. A "party" is how it was described by one of the first-timers, and that makes me really happy. You can tell by the photos above that there is an insane amount of work involved to successfully fire the kiln. Why did that feel like a party to us? There are two reasons why: 1) Baltimore Clayworks has a beautiful noborigama, and Jim Dugan provides a seemingly endless supply of expertise and guidance for students. 2) Greenbelters are awesome. Accomplishing all that work cooperatively with a large number of people is incredibly hard. And all of the challenging learning aspects of a wood-firing don't really happen if the people aren't sharing the work smoothly. I've learned this is not to be taken for granted, because in fact it takes an awful lot of character and intelligence to do this well. But it seems to come naturally for Greenbelters. "What's neat is that everyone seems to want everyone else's pots to be great," said another first-timer.
If you can't tell, I have so much respect for wood-firing. I love to introduce other potters to it, then watch the mind-blowing effect it has on first-timers, and the long-term growth and exploration that some will enjoy for years. Knowing these pyromaniacs makes my pottery life so much better. Hooray for pyromaniacs!
Thanks to those who contributed photographs for this blog post ... Karen Arrington, Amy Castner, Janet Evander, Judy Goldberg-Strassler, and Karen Morgenstern.
Last month, I arrived at my Friday night pottery class complaining of hand pain. I had spent that afternoon trimming pots that were a little too dry, and all the joints in my right hand ached from gripping my trimming tool so hard. I said that I wished OXO Good Grips would make trimming tools. The best idea I could muster for making my tool handles wider and softer was "ace bandages." But Alan Dowdy had a better idea.
"Pipe insulation."
"What's that?" I asked.
A few days later, I spent a whopping $3 in my neighborhood hardware store on a package of pipe insulation, which is basically a tube-shaped piece of foam. It's perfect. Some of my trimming tool handles fit snugly inside the tube without any fasteners. For tools that have skinnier or wider handles, I made lengthwise cuts in the foam to make the diameter smaller, or allow it to open wider, then fastened them on with rubber bands. I've been using these for over a month now, with no pain! I get excited when I think of all the wear-and-tear I just spared my hands from, over the next 20 years or so. That $3 bought me so much more foam than I needed, so I brought the rest into my Friday night class, and we all made our trimming tools more comfortable!
This past weekend I got to have a real treat ... a class in watercolor painting by renowned painter Jing-Jy Chen. She gave a class for me and several of my potter friends from the Greenbelt Community Center. Just watching Jing-Jy paint makes me feel more enlightened.
Here are the things that I painted: a crane, cherry blossoms, bamboo, and fish. I need a lot of practice. But also, I would love to adapt these techniques and styles for slip, glazes, and underglazes on some of my pottery work. Stay tuned!
Here is the group who attended. From left-right: me, Jing-Jy, Janet Evander, Judy Goldberg-Strassler, Karen Arrington, Lorraine DeSalvo, and Margaret Lukomska.  photo taken with Janet's camera-phone
While my intermediate students were trying to conjure up an early spring, my advanced students were trying to conjure up brownies. Back row l-r: Alan Dowdy, Karen Arrington, me. Front row l-r: Karen Riedlinger, me again, and Amy Castner.
In my Intermediate Wheel classes, we are trying to will Spring to arrive sooner. From left to right, the birdhouses were made by: Margaret Lukomska, Jonathan Gordy, Jenny Adams, Margaret again, Kuniko Wallis, me, Judy Goldberg-Strassler, a joint effort by Judy/Quianna Douglas, Jonathan again, Chris Landers, Carolyn Neuendorffer, a joint effort by Judy/Quianna/Melanie Choe, and Kara Duffy.
Busy working in the background are Judy, Jenny, Jeri, Jonathan, and Melanie. Apologies to Debra Suarez and Lauren Hammer, who also made some lovely birdhouses but I couldn't find them in the studio for the photo shoot (they must've been be in the kiln).
Yeah, the groundhog let us down, so we're taking matters into our own hands.
 (l-r) Alan Dowdy, Karen Riedlinger, me, Amy Castner. Not pictured in person, but represented by pottery, are Karen Arrington, Kori Rice, and Carol Wisdom. Photo by Chris Lillios (my brother-in-law) Not just for me and my pottery students, I want all potters to have the world at their feet. I'm working towards that one potter at a time. I thought our booth at last year's Greenbelt Festival of Lights was a screaming success. This year, my students and I improved our sales by over 17%! This is our third year having this collaborative booth, and it now operates at the level of a serious business.
I think I can pinpoint the difference-maker. Last year, after our furious selling pace on Saturday, our booth looked half-full on Sunday. It's harder to attract people into a booth if it looks like the good stuff may be gone. This year, we brought enough inventory to keep the booth looking full for both days of the show, and our sales on Sunday were much better. I can apply this insight to my own shows. I had two shows this year (Artscape Baltimore and Bethesda Row) where I had very few pots left for the last day. Sales were pretty slow on those days, but I've always thought it wasn't worth bringing more pots, because last day sales were always slower anyways. But now I know better. This means hauling in more boxes of pots, and hauling out more. But 17% matters. Here comes that recurring conclusion again, anything worth doing takes a lot of hard work.
Speaking of hard work, it really gratifies me that my students are having this much success. It reflects their preparation and hard work. Not just leading up to the show, but with all the dedication they pour into their pottery work year-round. They deserve it! My ego feels pretty good too.
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